“I’ll tell you what freedom is to me: no fear.”-Nina Simone

I have learned more exploring the life of Nina Simon over the past several weeks than I could have ever imagined. Though I could write a whole book on lessons I’ve learned from Nina Simone’s music, I’ll just state the one that’s most resonated with me.

Everyone is born with a voice. Each voice is completely unique, despite being shaped by influences of our environment. It doesn’t matter what our voice sounds like, feels like, or looks like. The only aspect of our voices that’s important is what we choose to do with it. Nina used her raspy, unusually low-registered voice to reveal truth. Her voice fought for racial equality, listed the hardships of black women, empowered others to find their own truth, and never apologize for it. What I’ve found to be so profound about Nina Simone is to her, it didn’t mater that she was rejected by the world for her brashness, her outspokenness, her blackness. Nina Simone was true. And isn’t that more than most people can say?